silica
/ˈsɪl.ɪ.kə/noun
silica is spelled S-I-L-I-C-A: 6 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,356th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, silica means “Silicon dioxide” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of silica is silicas.
How many letters and syllables are in silica?
| Letters | 6: S-I-L-I-C-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.9 times per million words; the 20,356th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is silica?
Silica appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,356th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce silica?
- UK /ˈsɪl.ɪ.kə/
Silica has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-silica.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with silica?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as silica from its last stressed vowel (/ɪlɪkə/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: sialic.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of silica
- silicas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does silica mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Silicon dioxide.
- 2
Any of the silica group of the silicate minerals.
Its Blair County property was sited at the foot of ganister-covered Dunnings Mountain to compete with the Mount Union plants making silica bricks for the steel industry.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Silica in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense silicon dioxide:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does silica come from?
From New Latin silica, from Latin silex (“hard stone, flint”), on model of alumina, soda.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).